Technical Death Metal band "CORPROPHEMIA" comes to us from Canada, and as any Death Metal fan knows, Canada has been putting out some great bands in past years. When you see the album cover - a seemingly satanic ritual sacrifice in vibrant and powerful colours - you just know this one is going be an amazingly brutal piece of musical art. The tracks are all about human sacrifice and scenes of brutality, which are fairly common in the genre, but these Canadian boys sure know how to make it feel fresh with good guitar riffs and some great drumming to drive the whole thing home.

The album is precise, brutal, grinding, rhythmic, and intense. Some of the tracks are shorter pieces like "An Offering to the Ancient Ones" that add ambiance and tension, leaving the brutality of the full-length tracks to really burrow under your skin. Death Metal can occasionally get caught up in intensity without leaving enough moments to breathe, and this can come at the cost of tension. When an album is all brutality, it can plateau, making you get used to it. However, "CORPROPHEMIA" seem to be aware of that and give you just enough time to start coming down, getting you uncomfortable with the shorter pieces and ambient noise, before bashing you over the head with another fantastic song.

Death Metal purists may think that the technical aspects of the album would take away from the violent tone, but that would be a major mistake. Everything is so precise and well done that it actually amplifies all the little pieces and makes the sum greater than the parts. Everything has its place and really brings the severe sound up to eleven. Vocalist Matt Kelly barely manages to milk his gravelly lyrics, before cutting them off like he is chewing through his own words. It feels as though his rage is barely contained behind the murderous lyrics and restraint; which is not something that is typically associated with this genre, but it works. Go ahead and give "Abhorrogenesis" a listen, but be sure to leave the ouija board at home.